Late 2000:
George W. Bush acquires the US President's Chair.
June 2004:
The Microsoft Trial, further forced by the American Law & Order lobby and the Federal Lawyer Association (www.atlanet.org), comes to an end. As a result, Microsoft is judged to open-source its whole Windows product line.
July 2004:
Netscape / AOL, Sun Microsystems, Apple and many other companies sue Microsoft because of various patent pending violations, unfair competition, and of 104 other points of indictment.
September 2005:
US courts judge Microsoft guilty. The American economy, completely geared towards IT and somewhat diminished by George W. Bush's leadership, collapses. In a desperate move to turn attention away from internal problems, the US military attacks targets in ex-Yugoslawia in order to "prevent terroristic actions of islamic fanatics that are a serious threat to national security", a rather clever technique that was successfully demonstrated by predecessor Bill Clinton.
The rather clever technique does not do the trick, the relationship USA - Europe deteriorates.
October 2006:
NATO is disbanded due to internal discrepancies.
April 2007:
Ongoing economy crisis in the USA, mutual militaric interests integrated into the EU, which is expanded and renamed to Union of European States (UES).
Mid - 2009:
Current state of the world: UES and USA approximately equally strong, economically-wise.
March 12th 2011:
An unidentified flying object crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. British and American Navy forces race to recover the remains of the UFO. Both sides obtain parts of the extraterrestrain wreck. It is the first time in history that a discovery like this is admitted by governments and official footage is made available.
August 2011:
Scientists manage to decipher some of the UFO's stored data. Recordings describe 4 locations of unmanned extraterrestrian observatory stations on the located on the seafloor. (Extraterrestrian Seafloor Stations, ESS). Due to an unpredictable espionage incident that involves a Minivan, an Electric Toothbrush and a Prototype of a Nuclear Microwave Oven, the USA and the UES both get hold of this information.
September 2011:
Experts and Secret Service personnel conclude: The Alien technology that is anticipated in the ESS's will guarantee whoever discovers and evaluates it in the first place economical and military leadership for years to come.

The race for which side will become the next superpower is on!
The player controls a UES submarine and has to complete a number of intriguing and challenging underwater missions to push good old Europe ahead of the US.